"If some sissy chick tried to kick my ass I would say: Hey! Missy! Go knit me a sweater before I slap you in the face!"
-Eric Cartman
What is your stance on gender and violence? Should men use less violence, starting fewer wars and stop raping others? Should women embrace violence so they can bite back at danger or get a stronger foothold in the competitive economy? What about games? Should they be less violent so that players become more civilized? Or should we condone it since games let us play with violence in a safe manner? And should gender have any role in the amount of violence portrayed in games?
Rose & Camellia is the self-proclaimed "elegant art of feminine conflict". And besides giving all sorts of food for thought for feminists, it's also a very entertaining game. Taking place in a romantic Victorian gothic mansion, it's half a story about how a girl has to prove her worth to inherit the house, it's half a combat system where you slap the aristocrats silly. It's sort of what you'd get if you took a fancy doll house and reenacted the plot of Mortal Kombat and had the dolls bash each other like it was Punch-Out. Beating the game, even on the easiest difficulty, requires fast and precise movement of the mouse. A quick reaction time doesn't hurt either. But even if you're having a tough time getting further, you'll still want to master the game to know which lady you'll face next and how her face will look after you completely wreck it with the palm of your hand.
I believe my final stance is that the game is a lot of fun, no matter your views on gender and violence.
...eh wot?
I find this review very odd. Why would it be expected that feminists would all respond the same way? I'm sure a great number of them would not care about this game at all, or be able to form their opinions based on principles developed in the past, since this game isn't anything new. Woman-on-woman violence isn't rare in videogames or entertainment media as a whole. I don't see what is so special about this game, that it would create "food for thought" for millions of different individuals, many of whom are not even interested in games. Yes, it's mildly misogynistic, but there are much bigger fish to fry, even in the videogame world.